Improvement in railway switches



2/ Shuts 511ml? 1. JOHN J. PARDEE,

Improvement in Railway Switches.

No. 125,611, Patented Apri|9,1872.

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Improvement in Railway Switches. No. 125,611. PatentedApril9,1872. v

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UNITED STATES PATENT Orrron.

JOHN JAY PARDEE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY SWITCHES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN JAY PARDEE, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in'RailroadSwitches; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing making a part of this specification, in whicha Figure 1represents a top plan of my railroad switch with so much of the maintracks shown as will illustrate my invention. Fig. 2 represents aperspective view of the same. :Fig. 3 represents, on an enlarged scale,some of the details of the switch not so distinctly seen in the otherfigures.

Similar letters of reference,

where they occur in the separate figures,

denote like parts The object of my invention is to so construct andarrange the several devices for operating and controlling railroadswitches as that, while they are readily operated. bywhand, they mayalso be operated by the locomotive as it is about to be switched fromone track to another and my invention consists, first, in combiningwithcertain rising and falling cams pivoted to the rails in the path. of thepassing wheels of ,the'. locomotive mechanical appli ancesadjacentthereto, and arranging them with regard to the movable switch,so that the weight of the wheels passing over said cams will shift theswitch; and my invention further consists in combining with the rollingshaft or rod that moves the switch an overpoise, the dropping of whichfacilitates 0r completes the movement of said rock-shaft in so movingorshifting the switch; and my invention further consists in combining,with a movable switch, bridge-pieces, which, as the switch is moved,slide up and bridge the joint between the switch and the ends of therails; and my invention further consists in combining with the switchguard-rail certain mechanism for holding up or steadying the cam thatrestores the switch to the maintrack so as to be ready to act at thepropertime.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe the same with reference to the drawing.

The permanent straight track is represented nentpart of the track orrail B of the turn-out or crossing is pivoted another cam, 3, said camsbeing so arranged as that, under certain circumstances, they will bestruck or pressed down byone of the wheels of the locomotive whenpassing over that part of the track, and so operate the switch. Insuitable sup orts, as at c, .are pivoted two levers, d c, the inner endsof which, respectively, project to and under the cams 2 3, and the outerends of which extend out so as to come against or in contact withcam-projections 4 5 on a disk or wheel, f,

which is fastened to the end of the rock-shaft or rod 9. The levers cl0, though acted upon or operated by the cams 2 3, and, in turn, actingupon or operating the rock-shaft g through the cams 4 5, are notconnected to either the cams or rock-shaft. At the opposite end of therock-shaft g from where the cams 4 5 are placed there is a crank, h,which has upon it a snail-cam, 6; and in a bearing, c, there is arrangeda pivoted lever, 7', the outer end of which acts upon and, in turn, isoperated by the snail-cam 6,'and the inner end of which projects underthe track-cam 1. This lever j, though acting in connection with both ofthe cams 1 6, is not attached permanently to either.

suitable bearings at k, and lies parallel to and a short distance .fromthe outer rail A of the straight track, and has upon it, in addition tothe cams 4 5 6, as described, an overpoise or weighted lever, Z, and anarm, handle, or lever, m, by which it may be operated by hand when sodesired. At about midway of the rock-shaft there is on it a crank, n, towhichone end of a connecting-rod, 0, is pivoted, the other end ofsaidrod being pivoted to the switch or movable rails at 1), said rails Dbeing connected by tie-rods q and connected to I The rocking-shaft orrod g'is supported in I a weighted lever, 8, upon the pivot or shaft ofwhich there is a crank-pin, t, to which one end of a link, a, isattached, the other end thereof being attached to the end of a pivotedlever, F, the other end of which pivoted lever is con- 7 nected, by aslot and pin at o, to a second pivoted lever, G, which, at its otherend, is attached to the guard-rail E by a short link, to, so that thepressure of the flange of the Wheel bearing against the guard-rail E andmoving it on its pivoted connection to the sill at a: will raise up theweighted lever 8 into a vertical or nearly vertical position, and holdit there so long as the pressure of the flange continues on said rail;but when the flange of the wheel ceases to bear upon the guard-rail E,then the weighted lever 8 drops back into its former position.

' To the tie-rods q of the switch or movable rails l) D there ispermanently and centrally attached a bar, H, to the end of which ispivoted, by 'a slot and pin, as at 3 the arm 7 of a threearmed lever, I,which is pivoted at 2, so that, as the switch or movable rails D aremoved, it will move the three-armed lever I on its pivot. The arms 8 and9 of the threearmed lever project across the track-one in one direction,the other in an opposite direction-their line being at right angles tothat of the arm 7 and to the ends of these arms are connected, by pivotand slot, respectively, the bridge-pieces 10, which move parallel to theline of rails with which they act, being guided in such parallelism byways 11 attached to said rails. When the switch or movable rails areshifted the three-armed lever is moved on its pivot, and one or theother of its arms, 8 or 9, as the case may be, slides up its bridgepiece10 so as to bridge or break the joint, as seen to the left of Fig. 1 andon the right-hand side of Fig. 2, while the other arm has slid itsbridge-piece out of the way, but ready to be brought up when the switchis moved the other way. These bridge-pieces make an oblique joint orunion at the ends of the rails, and thus prevent so much jar orconcussion. The ends of the rails, as seen at 12, may be made oblique,and permanently so but the ends of the rails at 13 cannot be so made, asthose of D must pass by them. The bridge-pieces, when moved up intoposition, accomplish a similar end for such rails as cannot bepermanently so bridged.

When the pressure of the flange of the passin g wheel against theguard-rail Ethrows up the weighted lever, s, as hereinabove mentioned,it lowers the lever j upon which the cam 1 rests, so that said lever isinactive and has no tendency to operate against the devices that havemoved and are holding the switch in it proper position; and when thelever 7' is in thi dropped or lowered position the cam 6 on thje' takesagainst the cam 6 on the rock-shaft g, 7

turns said shaft, and, through the crank it and link or connecting-rod0, restores said movable rails D to the straight track A.

When a locomotive or car is run upon the track B B in the direction ofthe arrow thereon shown, as soon as the first wheel strikes the.

cam 3 it (the cam) drops and operates the lever 0, which, in turn,through the cam 5, rocks the shaft and, by means of the crank it and therod 0 connected thereto and to the movable rails D, moves said railsinto the line of the bridge-pieces are moved, one into and one out ofaction, as and for the purpose explained.

Immediately after the operation of the cam 3 by the tread of the passingwheel the flange of the wheel takes against the guard-rail E, and,moving it on its pivotal connection at w, raises up and holds up theweighted lever s, which throws out the lever as above described, andrenders the cam 1 inoperative, which might otherwise, by untimed action,do injury. When the flange of the wheel passes beyond the guard-rail,then the weighted upraised lever 8 drops and sets the lever j and cam 1for active operation, so that, when the tread of the wheel passes oversaid cam 1, it, through said lever and its co-operative parts, moves therails back again to the straight track.

If a train coming up on the straighttrack A in a direction opposite tothat just above mentioned, and is to be run off onto the crossin g orsiding, the attendant shifts the rails D by means of the lever m or Z;and if left in this position and a train should come in an oppositedirection on the straight track, the moment the first wheel struck thecam 2 it, through its lever and cam and the rock-shaft g, would movesaid rails into the straight track again.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim therein as new,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with the movable rails D D and a rock-shaft, g,connected therewith by a crank, it, and rod 0, the independent cams 1 23, and levers 7' d e, and cams 4. 5 6 for operating said rails,substantially as described.

2. I also claim, in combination with the rockshaft g, operated by, theindependent cams and levers, as and for the purpose herein described,the overpoise-lever l for aiding in the movement of said rock-shaft andcompleting its 'movement, substantially as described. 3. I also claim,in combination with the movable rails D D, the reciprocating bridgepieces 10 10 for bridging the joints between rock-shaft g is not withinits range, if even itrails or track B B, and, at the same instant, the

said rails and the permanent tracks, said bridge-pieces being moved intoand out of action by the shifting of said rails D through mechanismsubstantially such as described.

4. I also claim, in combination with the guard-rail E and cam 1, theweighted lever s and pivoted lever j, said lever 8 being connected tothe guard-rail and said lever j operating upon the rock-shaft for thepurpose of autov matically putting said lever j out of action and againinto action, as and for the purposes described and represented.

J. JAY PABDEE. Witnesses:

A. B. STOUGHTON, EDMUND MASSON.

